It also motivates faster biodiversity loss, which poses a risk to the existence of human civilisation. Partnering organisations in the Climate Action to the Table project are spreading important messages through the organisation of different events, trainings for educators, interactive games for children and much more.

As part of the Climate Action to the Table project Fundesplai from Barcelona, Spain and Umanotera, The Slovenian Foundation for Sustainable Development from Ljubljana, Slovenia are organising live and online events and conferences on the topics of climate friendly and sustainable food.

1st event: Civil society participation in shaping sustainable food systems

Fundesplai (lead partner) organised the conference “Civil society participation in shaping sustainable food systems” (January 2022, online). Speakers from various backgrounds presented the importance of strengthening the link between food growers and consumers, the importance of promoting organic food and the role of local economies in shaping sustainable food systems.

Programme of the event

2nd event: National conference about climate friendly catering 

At the National conference about climate friendly catering (March 2022, Ljubljana) organised by Umanotera Slovenian and foreign speakers spoke about the importance of sustainable catering practices and shared their practical experience about reducing environmental impact through food.

Recording of the event part 1,

Recording of the event part 2

Programme of the event

Photographs from the event

3rd event: Sustainable school food: Global challenges, local solutions 

At the conference “Sustainable school food: Global challenges, local solutions” (April 2022, online) organised by Fundesplai, school food programs were compared by country. Different countries and realities were presented in order to show how they cope with different challenges regarding school food programs: minimizing waste, reducing the consumption of animal protein and increasing the consumption of fresh and local food.

Programme of the event

Recording of the event

4th event: Practices for a sustainable restaurant business

The conference “Practices for a sustainable restaurant business” (May 2022, Barcelona) by Fundesplai was attended by members of other partner organisations in the project.

Recording of the event

5th event: Environment-friendly and healthy food – how can we recognise it? 

This event was organised by Umanotera in collaboration with Slovene Consumers’ Association. The title and also the main question of the event was: Environment-friendly and healthy food – how can we recognise it? (May 2022, online). The speakers discussed sustainable certificates and labels, the consumers’ role and greenwashing in food labelling – both from a consumer and a systemic point of view.

Recording of the event

Programme of the event

All the events were attended by a large number of participants who agreed that adopting more sustainable food consumption patterns is of utmost importance – we will not solve the climate crisis only by changing our own food decisions, but the current crisis cannot adequately be addressed without it.

There are more interesting events and content to come in the upcoming months, until the end of the project in February 2023.

Finding solutions – co-creatively

The new insights, controversies and open questions served as the basis for co-creative workshops on four topics: Stakeholder participation and social dialogue, Electrification, Reskilling and Just Transition in the Central and Eastern European car industry. In the workshops diverse stakeholder groups came together to identify key questions that urgently need to be answered together. Through lively, face-to-face discussions, the co-creative format of the workshops enabled an understanding of various perspectives on the transition. We used deep listening exercises to familiarise participants with conflicting positions of other stakeholders and enable the development of initial solutions.

At last, the conference concluded with a multi-stakeholder panel discussion. Panelists were Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg (MEP Greens/EFA), Tommaso Pardi (Director GERPISA, Research Group on the Automobile Industry and its Employees), Sigrid de Vries (Secretary General CLEPA, European Association of Automotive Suppliers) and Balázs Bábel (Vice-President VASAS, Hungarian Metalworkers’ Federation).

Summary

Sometimes it is not easy to engage in dialogue, especially when it is almost inevitable to be confronted with conflicting views and positions of various stakeholders. However, this conference chose to jump straight into the deep end and acknowledge opposing positions, different values and lived experiences. The numerous positive feedbacks from the participants showed once again that dialogue is worthwhile. Stakeholder participation and social dialogue is crucial for a Just Transition. When well facilitated, it creates ownership of change among all people and regions affected. Listening to views beyond our own allows us to come together and join forces for a sustainable future for all.

Videos

Interview with Károly György on the impact of a Just Transition on regions in Hungary

Interview with Monika Benedekova on Just Transition in collective bargaining agreements

Interview with Michal Hrubý on the opportunities and risks of electrification in the Czech Republic

Interview with Frank Siebern-Thomas on the triple dividend of a green transition